| Author | Message | ||
     Tom_b |
Anybody besides me like riding at night in the summer due to cooler temperatures? When the traffic dies down an the temp drops i love to ride.. Of course my favorite time is in the early AM, but that rarely works for me | ||
| Americanmadexb |
yup | ||
| Garyz28 |
I love riding summer nights! I just wish my Uly had a better lighting system. Maybe it's time to finally spring for a set of HID's | ||
| Metalstorm |
It depends. I don't 'plan' on night rides. They just happen sporadically. I tend to do most of my night riding in the winter. When it's dark by 5:00pm. It's best when it's also raining cats & dogs and temps are in the mid to high 30's  | ||
| 07xb12ss |
the only thing i dont like is the bugs seem to be worse at night, that and the po-po's are harder to see in advance | ||
| Tom_b |
Metalstorm, it is best to ride in the winter on snow. Kinda like dirtbiking in the mud, but not so messy  Your a sick man .. LOL (Message edited by tom_b on July 13, 2009) | ||
| Bill0351 |
Early morning is the best summer riding around here. NE Wisconsin has too many bugs at night. I rode home from Madison to Green Bay at about 9:00PM yesterday and there were times I was nearly blinded by bug guts. Riding almost blind down country two-lane roads isn't much fun. | ||
| Corporatemonkey |
On a fairly regular basis I leave the city and ride east until I can see stars. If you are a regular night rider, HID are a requirement. Anything less is dangerous IMO. | ||
| Jaimec |
Coming back from Americade this year I was IMMEDIATELY struck by just how much BETTER the lights on my 1125R were than my previous XB12Ss. Night riding was a "white knuckle adventure" with the XB, and a pleasure with the 1125R. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
Jaimec Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 - 07:11 am: Coming back from Americade this year I was IMMEDIATELY struck by just how much BETTER the lights on my 1125R were than my previous XB12Ss. Night riding was a "white knuckle adventure" with the XB, and a pleasure with the 1125R. +1. I rarely use my high beams either, just cuz the lows are so good. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
I regularly ride at night going to or from work, mostly back roads too. I know what you mean about "white knuckle adventure" with an XB, the platform is so short that when you brake the front dips enough that you reduce all the beamspread in front of you to a patch about 10ft long! The trick is to ride smoothly in a gear lower than you would normally, carrying a few more revs & use the rear brake so the front doesn't dive. The M2 being longer, lower & heavier, with a bigger headlamp, was much better for night riding. | ||
| Etennuly |
Having the Uly wired so both lights are on while on hi beam makes a world of difference. I will deal with bugs any time verses critters of the forrest. I limit my night riding on local highways and secondary roads as much as possible because of these guys. The woods of East Tennessee leak critters onto the roads as soon as the sun starts to set. In a car you will make "road pizza", on the bike you likely will be "road pizza". When hitting the super slabs in the summer it seems easier to me to ride from midnight to sun up, in part because there is usually less traffic. It is cooler for ATTGAT, and easier on the tires also. In the daytime I have had the tread melting and dripping off a new pair of Scorpion Syncs while summer slabbing at 95F+. | ||
| Jaimec |
Even without braking, the light cast by the single headlight on the XB12Ss was pitiful. Aiming it was an adventure, too. If I aimed the low beam high enough to give me a decent view of the road, the high beam illuminated the tree tops. If I aimed the high beam to point straight ahead and level, the low beam lit up a small area directly in front of the bike for maybe 50 feet (no more). Fortunately, where I do MOST of my riding (here on Long Island) it wasn't an issue since the majority of the streets are well lit. But that ride home on the Taconic Parkway at night was an experience I won't soon forget. | ||
| Fahren |
I like to go out with the visor up in the summer evenings when I'm a little hungry and swallow me some bugs. Good eatin' - better'n possum or squirrel. | ||
| Metalstorm |
I don't use HID for fear of blinding a drunk driver and him coming into my lane. I put MotoLights on my cg and they do a great job of lighting up the back roads. | ||
| Metalstorm |
By the way, that was my first post by phone. I don't know how you all handle these little screens. | ||
| Slaughter |
The ONLY time I enjoy riding in a group is at night in the mountains here (NO traffic to speak of) We pull our mirrors down (so we're not blinded by the following motorcycle) and ALL ride with our high beams on. AMAZING how much better the lighting really is when you ALL run full high beams. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
Metalstorm Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 - 03:50 pm: By the way, that was my first post by phone. I don't know how you all handle these little screens. that's another plus of the iPhone, you can zoom in to playskool size fonts | ||
| Aesquire |
I love night riding with 2 caveats. Deer, and riverside fogbanks. During the day I love the sudden cooling when you dip into a creek valley, but at night you sometimes get zero visibility & wet road & visor. You just have to be aware & partially sane to deal with that. My buddy lives on the edge of Mendon Ponds Park & 1000+ acres of private no hunting land. If I don't see a deer in the 15 miles between our houses, I assume I wasn't looking. I have had them run in front of me on every road inside 5 miles, and even have to stop sometimes to yell at them to get out of the way. I gotta put the Wileyco back on. Lots of light is good. A HID ( low beam only ) won't bother others if it's adjusted right. |
